diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java
index 7d0b4c3d4..0cf425e6f 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/VariantsToTable.java
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ public class VariantsToTable extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
         getters.put("REF", new Getter() {
             public String get(VariantContext vc) {
                 String x = "";
-                if ( vc.hasReferenceBaseForIndel() ) {
+                if ( vc.hasReferenceBaseForIndel() && !vc.isSNP() ) {
                     Byte refByte = vc.getReferenceBaseForIndel();
                     x=x+new String(new byte[]{refByte});
                 }
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ public class VariantsToTable extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
                 StringBuilder x = new StringBuilder();
                 int n = vc.getAlternateAlleles().size();
                 if ( n == 0 ) return ".";
-                if ( vc.hasReferenceBaseForIndel() ) {
+                if ( vc.hasReferenceBaseForIndel() && !vc.isSNP() ) {
                     Byte refByte = vc.getReferenceBaseForIndel();
                     x.append(new String(new byte[]{refByte}));
                 }